LINCOLN, Neb.—Sek Henry was happy with the way Nebraska played defense in its 70-48 win over Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday night, pointing to the Kangaroos’ low score as proof.
His coach, Doc Sadler, wasn’t as enthusiastic.
“Our on-the-ball defense has really digressed,” Sadler said. “We’re going to have a lot of work to do on that.”
Even though the Huskers (3-1) held Missouri-Kansas City (3-1) to just 18 field goals, forced 14 turnovers and blocked seven shots, Sadler said his team could do better.
“We have to get much better guarding the ball,” he said. “But for the most part, I thought the team played very hard.”
Nebraska began the second half with a 17-point lead after holding the Kangaroos to just eight field goals and 30 percent shooting in the first.
The Huskers were never challenged after that, leading by as many as 28 before Sadler cleared his bench late in the game.
Tied at 10 after the first 10 minutes, Nebraska went on to score 31 more points before intermission while holding Missouri-Kansas City to just 14.
Henry, who led the Huskers with 14 points, said he was “very, very happy” they held the Kangaroos to less than 50 points.
“We still scored our points,” Henry said. “We needed to play some defense. We really protected the ball and we controlled the game.”
Missouri-Kansas City coach Matt Brown said some of his team’s scoring difficulty was the result of missing easy shots, including eight lay-ups by his count.
But Brown attributed much of the trouble to Nebraska’s physical defense.
“The biggest difference was the physicality, the bumping with the hips and the rear end and the chest that don’t get called,” he said. “It was a valuable learning experience for us. When you get lay-ups or you get around the basket, especially against a Big 12 team, you’ve got to go strong and don’t expect a call.”
Nebraska shot 57 percent from the floor in the first half and finished the game at 53 percent.
Sadler said he is still trying to find a rotation with his young team, which only has two seniors and lost Toney McCray for the season Tuesday when the sophomore guard elected to have surgery on his injured left elbow.
“I think we’re spinning it and reinventing it and I have no idea where it’s going to go,” Sadler said. “We’re playing guys who have no business playing. They have no idea how to play college basketball and that’s going to catch up with us real quick.”
